Chapter 2
Valens
Everyone’s eyes were on Brielle, but I only had eyes for Elodie.
Sure, the little omega gleamed like a power beacon, awe-inspiring and terrifying in equal measure. Terrifying because my mate was meant to stand between that beacon of light and the onslaught of attackers who would surely be on our doorstep soon.
My wolf didn’t like it, not one infinitesimal bit.
But perhaps the dangers of her job would be a moot point. I knew very little about the maidens, but one of the key job descriptors was that they were unmated females. Now that I was sure she was meant to be mine, well, it was only a matter of time until she no longer qualified.
Granted, she had shown zero acknowledgment of what I now knew. Maybe she was in denial? It was a shock to find one’s mate, especially a stranger from a recently enemy pack.
I was shocked, at the very least. But the shock was quickly wearing off in favor of awe.
Elodie was a glorious she-wolf. Fierce, loyal, strong, and so gorgeous that any male would be lucky to have her.
Her dark brunette hair was a contrast to her smooth, creamy complexion and her rosy cheeks.
She wore red lipstick every time I’d seen her, accentuating those utterly kissable lips.
And her eyes, well… The crystal blue was mesmerizing, framed by thick dark lashes.
I wanted to stare into those eyes for the rest of my life.
Even in her uniform, she shone like the brightest star on a velvet night.
The way my pulse raced just being next to her was absolutely insane by human standards. But touching her was like being struck by lightning. Every cell in my body had changed with the instinctual knowledge that she was mine. My mate, my forever, irrevocably.
The greatest gift the Goddess could bestow, standing before me in the flesh.
Granted, at the moment, she was standing with her arms crossed, keeping her distance as if she might catch the clap from even glancing my way.
That was okay. I’d win her over if it took a hundred years. What was a wolf, after all, if not a hunter?
I would hunt Elodie Carmichael to the ends of the earth, if that’s what it took to win her bond.
“Holy shit, that’s incredible,” Fiona said, drawing my attention back to the matter at hand. The whole landscape of the wolf-shifter world, changing during my lifetime. “Do you feel anything different?”
“Peace.” Brielle lifted her hand from the omega stone, and her hair slowly floated back down, her eyes regaining their usual frosty brown color. “An overwhelming sense that everything is going to work out.”
Gael ran a hand over the back of his neck, his concern practically hanging in the air around him. “As heartwarming as that is, I think we were all hoping for something a little more concrete. There’s no chance you stay hidden now, which means all our days are numbered unless we have a plan.”
Brielle shrugged, casting a look over her shoulder at the high alpha.
“I can’t tell you anything other than the stone feels…
” She lifted her hands in the air, searching for a word.
“Connected. Alive. I don’t know for sure that my omega gifts have spread to all the packs worldwide, but maybe we can figure out a way to test it? ”
Gael nodded, jaw tight.
“What powers are you hoping to test?” I asked, still unfamiliar with the history of this unique pack I was now linked to.
“That’s where it gets tricky,” Lucien answered from my other side.
“She has powers of healing and fertility. No female wolves in our pack will ever die in childbirth again as long as Brielle lives. Our hope was that the stone would extend those powers to all wolf packs that serve the high alpha, if not every wolf worldwide.”
My knees nearly buckled at the words, sorrow and memories grabbing me by the throat with the force of an eagle’s claws. “A blessed gift indeed,” I managed to choke out.
Thankfully, he nodded and continued with the conversation, unaware of my inner turmoil.
“I wonder if there’s anyone in one of our old packs who’s got a pup coming soon?” Leigh asked, the hand running over her own belly moving erratically, almost nervously. Her eyes flicked between Olivia and Brielle.
“Probably, but even if they make it through, that’s no guarantee. Birth is high risk, but it’s not guaranteed to go badly.”
I have to get out of this conversation.
I cleared my throat, though no amount of clearing could make the grief leave it. “I’m sure you’ll all work out a way to test this, but I have pack matters to attend to this morning, if you don’t need me?” I aimed the question at Lucien, who nodded quickly then turned with me toward the door.
“You’re going to see to Jerica?”
I nodded, barely holding back a grimace. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Good man. I’ll come find you as soon as we’re done here. Shouldn’t be much longer.”
One more nod and I was free of the suffocating room and the memories it threatened to drag back to the surface.
Granted, I wasn’t in for a cakewalk today.
I strode down the main cobblestone path of our little pack town, homes and small businesses intermingled without rhyme or reason.
The sight of poorly patched roofs and crooked shutters, overgrown trees, and just an endless list of incomplete maintenance made me angry, as it always did.
But today, I got to do something about it. Lucien was a good Alpha, and his first order of business had been to ask what the pack needed.
I’d told him. Repairs and security. There had been a severe lack of both under Varga leadership.
So, we were tackling both. I had a few personal issues to deal with first, but as soon as they were dealt with, I’d be spending the rest of the afternoon with a tool belt, starting repairs on the houses with pups and the elderly who couldn’t do their own.
The Humboldts’ roof was first on my list.
But first, I had to deal with Jerica. She was Petró’s mistress, and I was the last person she’d want to see. But when duty called, I didn’t shirk it.
Her little cottage was much nicer than most, tucked at the shady end of town, not too far for her to come running at her late lover’s every beck and call.
Granted, she’d mostly resided in his wing of the mansion in the months since his father had died, but now that he was gone, she’d been demoted back to a cottage like the rest of the pack.
I stopped on the stoop of the lovely little home, steeling myself for the storm of hate that was Jerica. I’d barely raised my fist to knock before she ripped the door open, teeth bared and flashing sharp canines. “Traitor!”
She raised her hand to slap me, but I caught it with alpha speed she couldn’t match as a gamma. “We’ve been over this, Jerica. Alpha Vasilescu defeated Petró in a clean challenge. There is no traitor to this pack, only a new direction. It’s time you accepted that.”
A theatrical tear trickled down her bronzed cheek, and her blond curls began to quiver as the single tear turned to a deluge. She might have been considered beautiful if she weren’t so damn spiteful.
I sighed, dropping her hand and gesturing toward her round kitchen table, visible from the front door.
“It’s just not right, to be expected to bend the knee to the man who killed the one I”—her voice hitched, but I didn’t miss the sly glance she shot my way—“loved.” I trailed her inside, where she sank delicately into the nearest chair, conveniently also the only one large enough for a male of my size to sit in comfortably.
“Yes, we’re all very cut up over the fact that you were screwing my sister’s fiancé. He was such a good man.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my tone as I settled back in the too-small wooden chair she’d left for me.
Should I have had more sympathy? Maybe. She had cared about him, in her own way. But from where I was sitting, sympathy was hard to muster when my sister had been betrothed to the bastard.
They were both better off without him, if you asked me.
Somehow, neither of them agreed. I hoped that Vee would come around eventually, once she got over the disgrace of the whole ordeal.
Jerica? She knew she’d missed the boat. The new Alpha was happily mated and wouldn’t even glance in her direction.
It was a major step down in social standing, and for a she-wolf like Jerica, that was as good as death.
She was going to hold a grudge, and the whole pack knew it. Mostly because she was doing her best to stir up dissent and drama every chance she got. This little visit was based on the latest antics she’d gotten into yesterday.
“You know why I’m here?” I asked, getting right down to it. I’d rather be sweating on a roof in the dead heat of the day than have to spend an extra second dealing with useless drama. Sometimes, I thought I was a bad choice for a pack second.
“No.” The petulant jut of her chin and the way she crossed her arms over her chest as if she were accusing me of being the troublemaker told me I wouldn’t get to that roof any time soon.
“You were posting fliers all down the main path yesterday saying that our new Alpha is a usurper and… a goat fucker?” I pulled the folded piece of baseless slander out of my pocket, flattening the flier on the table between us.
She rolled her eyes. “Is that what you’re here about? You can’t prove that was me. Lucien is unpopular with over half the pack, and that weak little mate of his is practically useless. It could have been anyone.”
“It could have been, yes. But it was you. Stu put up a new camera over his shop’s entrance, and you were caught in the act.”
Her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “And you’re here to finally toss me out of the pack because our new big bad Alpha can’t handle a little criticism?”
“No, you stubborn bitch. I’m here to tell you to knock this shit off before you make even more of a fool of yourself. The Vasilescus are good for our pack, and your childish lashing out isn’t going to do anything but cause strife. Do you know what I’m doing this afternoon at the Alpha’s order?”
“Harassing more women who’ve lost a soul mate?”
“Knock that shit off. You two weren’t mates, and everyone knew it. No, I’m rebuilding houses. On his personal dime. The Vargas squandered almost all the pack resources, but he’s fixing things anyway. Do you realize how rare it is to get a leader who cares?”
She remained stubbornly silent, still glaring at me, but I soldiered on because she needed to hear it.
“Do you really want to harm the whole pack because you can’t let go? He wasn’t yours. You know he was set to bond with Vee in less than three months. Three months, and you’d have been sitting in this cottage stewing alone, just like you are now.”
My sister had looked the other way because she didn’t actually want to bond with Petró, but she was an alpha by designation, and there was no way in hell she’d have continued to put up with him cheating after they were bonded formally.
Frankly? Lucien Vasilescu had done my family a personal favor in wiping out that shit stain of an alpha, and I couldn’t be more relieved my sister was no longer saddled with him and his philandering ways.
Jerica’s brother, however, had been one of Petró’s closest cronies and thought he could do no wrong.
Hence the fliers.
“Promise me this is the last of it. For your own good. Alpha Vasilescu is patient, but even he can’t let you keep running around doing this shit forever. You will get thrown out of the pack eventually.”
Because I’d insist. I would put the good of the pack over one selfish she-wolf any day of the week, no question.
“Fine.” She sniffed, eyes welling up again as if the word cost her. “But I don’t like it.”
“I know. And you don’t have to.” I couched the words in kindness, because despite the fact that I couldn’t stand her sniveling, social-climbing ways, she was part of the pack I fought so hard to protect. That meant something to me.
I let myself out, grateful for the fresh air and sunshine as I checked off the first task on my list. I had three more visits to make, then I could get to work.
I was shirtless and sweating on a roof, hauling slate tiles to replace the damaged ones, when Lucien found me some time later.
“How’s it going?”
“Good,” I grunted, barely looking up from the task at hand. It felt so damn good to finally do something with measurable results.
Interpersonal dynamics were complicated in packs, but this? This shit had a beginning, middle, and end. Simple manual labor.
It left my mind free to wander to a pretty little brunette and her big-ass sword.
“How much longer do you think you’ve got?” he asked, shielding his eyes as he craned his neck to look up at me.
The question was innocent enough, but still, I couldn’t hold back a sigh. He was about to make my life complicated again.
“An hour tops. What do you need, Alpha?”
He ran a hand through his chin-length blond hair with that regretful grimace I was beginning to know well, and I set down my tools.
“I’m coming.”
He waited for me to climb down the ladder and start walking down the road beside him before he spoke again. “It won’t always be like this.”
I snorted. “Right. The pack will grow, the world will change, and it will be even more complicated.”
“True.”
There was no point denying it.
“So, where are we going?”
“Pack archives. Apparently, there’s a new stack of files the librarian thinks we might find interesting in our search for information on the plot against the Blackwater pack.”
This time, I didn’t even bother trying to hold back my sigh. There was nothing worse than the dusty old pack archives, except perhaps sitting in Jerica’s kitchen.